Hearts In The Wind
by Whisper1
Summary: Chelsea runs away from home and finds herself in New York. She meets a newsie who is willing to give her a helping hand, but can he help her the right way if she won't tell him what she's running from. I'm in the middle of re-writing the old Hearts In The
1. The Start of It All

Hearts In The Wind  
  
" Leave me alone, will ya?" I yelled back to my father, who was chasing me down the street. I ran as fast as I could. I was never going back, he couldn't make me, no one could make me go back to that house, to that life. After a few minutes of running I looked back and saw that he stopped chasing me. Good, I thought, but I kept running. I ran for what seemed like hours until, finally, I reached the train yards. I jumped into the first train I saw. I leaned on my knees, trying to catch my breath, but it wasn't working. I tried to control my breathing, but it wasn't working and before I knew it, I passed out.  
I was awaken by a jolt of the train, it seemed to have stopped. I didn't realize how long I was sleeping and I didn't have time to figure it out. The cart door flung open and a man started yelling at me and threw me out of the train. I was thankful the train had stopped, but being thrown to the ground still hurt. I stood up, dusted myself off and looked around.  
I started walking and after a few minutes, I found a town, or I guess it would be a city. Trying to figure out where I was and finding somewhere to stay was my priority. It was getting dark out, and I didn't have a place to stay, or any food or money. Maybe I shouldn't have done this, I thought. No, this was the right thing to do. It was the only way out. So I kept on walking and eventually found myself in an alley. I thought I'd be safe here but then I heard a voice from behind me.  
" Hey'a sweetface. Whatcha doin in a alley all by your lonesome" I turned around to see these two boys standing in front of me. They hovered over me in height and they had these smug looks on their face. I was terrified; I could try to fight, but that wouldn't do any good.  
" I.uh.I was just leaving." I tried to walk around them, but the one with the mustache grabbed my arm and pushed me to the ground in front of them.  
" No ya ain't." One of them said, as they started checking my pockets.  
" I don't have anything." I tried to say calmly, but it was obvious they could tell I was horrified.  
" No money? Well that ain't a good thing, is it Oscar?" Nodding his head, the boy called Oscar picked me up by my hair and punched me in the face, which knocked me flat on my ass. He was about to do it again when I heard this voice.  
"I wouldn't do that again." I looked to the front of the alley and saw a couple other guys. The tallest one with the cowboy hat walked over and helped me up.  
"Leave her alone." He said, looking Oscar in the eye.  
" You can't protect everyone, Cowboy. Come on Morris. We'll be seeing you sweetface!" With that they strutted outta the alley. The man standing beside me looked at me.  
" Are you'se alright?" I looked straight into his eyes and was fully prepared to tell a lie when I was cut off by someone.  
" What a question. Ya, um miss, even though you were attacked and beat up, are you alright? Ha ha, Jack you're a bucket of laughs!" This curly headed kid started laughing pretty hard. To me, he looked insane. What part of that was funny?  
"I meant how hurt are you. Damn Mush, just let the girl answer." The boy called Mush settled down and they all looked at me.  
"Oh, me? I'm fine, thanks."  
"That eye of yours says otherwise." Instinctively my hand went up to my injured face.  
"C'mon, we'll go get you fixed up." He offered.  
"Uh, no thanks, I'll be alright."  
"Look, we aren't going to hurt you. I just can't leave a hurt girl on the streets when the sun is going down. It ain't safe. I swear on my honor as a newsie, we honestly mean you no harm. Just come back to our Lodging House and if you don't like the looks of things, you don't even have to go in, alright?" I didn't know what to think. Should I trust them, should I run, should I go home?  
" Uh, sure, thanks. Uh, my name is Chelsea." I said very hesitantly.  
" I'm Jack Kelly. That is Mush Kid Blink, Davey, Race and thats Specs." With that Jack spat in his hand and extended it out. Ew. He took my hand and I tried to not mind the spit and we shook on it. I could feel the spit and it was all slimy, ew, but I knew better than to say anything about it, so when we finished shaking hands, I waited till no one was looking and wiped the spit off of my hand.  
When we got outside of their lodging house, I started to observe it. It looked pretty decent to me. Jack looked at me and I shook my head, letting them lead me into their home, and eventually into their world. Jack signed me in and brought me upstairs to meet the rest of the guys. We walked into a room of about 30 guys. One of them walked up to us.  
" Bring'in strays, Jack?" the boy that said this was walking with a crutch.  
" Very funny Crutchy. Listen up this here is Chelsea. She got a little roughed up by the Delancy's and she's gonna stay here the night." With that he led me to the bed I would be sleeping in. I said thank you and started looking at all the guys. It was a bit of an uncomfortable situation. There were very few girls in the room.  
" Hey, don't worry about them. Manhattan has decent guys, they won't bug you to much." I smiled at him and sat on my bunk. Jack walked away and came back a few minutes later with a damp cloth, he gave it to me and let me clean up my face a bit before taking it away and telling me to get some sleep.  
The next day I was woken up by an old man called Kloppmen. He explained that he was the adult who looked after the place, and the newsies in it. He told me to go get washed up as he woke everyone else up. I found him to be a very gentle old man. He pointed me to the bathroom and I went and washed up. The bruise on my eye looked pretty bad, but other than that I felt ok. As I walked out of the bathroom, all washed up and ready to leave, I saw that everybody was up. I walked to the window and looked out of it. I didn't know what I was going to do that day, or what job to look for, I was lost, and then I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned around and was face to face with Jack. " Hey. Your eye looks like it'll be alright. So, you wanna learn how to be a newsie, it'll give you something to do for the day, and I can make back the money I spent on you last night for rent."  
"Uh, sure but I have no idea how to be a newsie so I might not be very good at it."  
  
" That's alright. I'm a good teacher, plus no one expects to much out of a newsie on there first day. The only thing that can make you good at this job is experience. You'll learn." I looked at him with some hope. Maybe I would be ok here. Jack led me out of the bunkroom and to the distribution office. When it was our turn, Jack got his usual amount and an extra 20 for me. When I reached to get them, a hand grabbed mine and I looked up and saw one of the horrible boys from the day before.  
" Let go of my hand." I tried to get out of his grasp, but he was strong.  
" You didn't let us introduce ourselves properly last night. How's about later you and me go back ta my place and we can have a little fun.  
  
" Now I thought I told you to leave her alone?" I looked behind me and saw Jack towering over me. Oscar let my wrist go as he winked at me. Jack led me down the stairs and out of the distribution center. That morning he taught me how to sell properly. It was a lot harder than it looked. People could be so rude and I wasn't having much luck. I barely was able to sell my twenty. I had no idea how Jack sold a whole hundred. At lunch, we went to Tibby's, where some of the Manhattan newsies ate lunch. We sat at a table with Jack, a guy named Race, and a guy named Snoddy.  
" So, how did ya do for your first day?" Race asked as we sat down, I sat right across from Snoddy.  
" I guess I did alright. I had a good enough teacher." I said. For the duration of the meal, there wasn't much serious talk. It was just a bunch of chit chat. I mostly just sat there and listened. After lunch, I stood up and made my way outside. I sat on the curb and tried to absorb everything. I thought that running away would be a little harder than that. I mean, I get into town and right before I get hurt badly this group of guys help me out, give me a place to stay and a job. It seemed lucky to me. But that's what I felt was wrong, life didn't happen like that. At any moment something was bound to happen. Something was bound to smack me back into the real world. Someone approaching me from behind disturbed my thinking.  
" Oscar, come 'ere. Look who I found. It's that girl from the alley last night." I stood up and turned around to face possibly the ugliest man I have ever seen. I couldn't believe I kept running into them. Then again, maybe this was the universe's way of saying that I pushed my luck to much.  
" What's this, Cowboy isn't here to help you out? We could gonna soak you real bad right now." I slowly started to back up, when I noticed that a couple of the guys were coming out of Tibby's. Oscar and Morris also saw them.  
" Saved again. The moment we get you alone, you'll regret the day you met us." Didn't they realize I already regretted the day that I met them. Maybe if I told them they would leave me be. Probably not though. They took off. I was so relieved, and then I realized that eventually they would find me alone and beat the hell out of me. I had no idea how to fight. I had no idea how to defend myself. Maybe someone could help me with that. Maybe Jack could, he seemed like a nice enough guy. 


	2. Defend Myself, I Wish

"Hey Jack, here's the money I owe you." I handed him some of my profit.  
"Thanks. So are you going to stick around for a while? Try being a newsie in Manhattan?" We slowly started walking.  
"Yea, if no one minds. I think it would be safe enough to sell papers for a while at least, until I can find something else. It also gives me a place to stay, so I think I'll stick around here for a while."  
"Good. Kloppmen won't mind. But you need to know, it's hard work. On some days it'll be freezing and you still have to sell, on other days it'll be pouring and you should still find a way to sell, and then there are the days where you'll feel like crap but you still have to sell. I just want to make sure you understand how hard this is, but I think you'll do alright."  
"Thanks. I think this is something I can really do, although I don't think I'll ever be able to sell a hundred papers, I may just get good enough to sell maybe thirty a day." We continued walking in silence. I was trying to figure out a good way to ask him about defending myself.  
"Jack, I have a favor to ask of you, even though you've helped me out so much already. I was wondering if you could teach me a few fighting moves so I could learn to defend myself."  
"You wanna learn how to fight? What brought this on?"  
"The Delancy's. They won't leave me alone."  
"They generally don't leave most girls alone, ya know? How about we wait a few weeks. If they keep bugging you and you think that you may need fighting lessons, I'll get you some help, is that alright with you?"  
"Sure, that's just fine." I was a little irritated, but he couldn't tell. He didn't know me long enough to know that though, so he just nodded and kept walking on. I had to wait a few weeks, that wasn't good enough for me. Anything could happen in a few weeks, especially with my incredible luck right now. Something was going to happen, it had to. Frustrated, I followed Jack back to the lodging house. Later that night I was sitting on my bunk when the boys called Blink and Mush came up to me.  
"Hey Chelsea, we've been thinking. You need a newsie name now that your gonna stick around for a while. Since you don't speak very much around everyone, Mush and I decided to call you Whisper. Is that ok with you?" I sat up. Whisper, hmmm. That sounded nice.  
"Yeah, I kinda like. Thanks for the name guys." I lied back down and the walked away. It had been a long day and I decided that I was going to need my sleep if I was gonna wake up early tomorrow and do it all over again.  
A few days went by and each one was the same as the one before it. I would wake up ridiculously early, get hassled at the distribution center by Oscar and Morris, work my ass off to sell twenty papers, eat something at Tibby's, take a walk, get back to the lodging house exhausted and eventually fall asleep. Being a newsie was the hardest work I'd ever done in my life. Although not all of it was bad, I started to really hate the beginning part of my day. Oscar and Morris had me shaking in my boots. They knew it, I knew it, and everyone else knew it. One day I caught them picking on another newsgirl, so I knew it wasn't just me, but I still dreaded getting my papers in the morning. This morning was no different than any other morning. Oscar and Morris found it funny to hassle me while I was getting my papers. Once again, Oscar had my wrist.  
"C'mon, we'll show you a real good time sweetface." I tried yanking my wrist away, and it really wasn't working. Racetrack walked up behind me.  
"Just let her go Oscar, this is getting old." Oscar let go, winked like usual and went about his business. I was really starting to hate him. I sold all of my papers that day and then went looking for Jack. I didn't want to wait anymore, I needed to know how to fight and I needed to know soon. I found him at Tibby's.  
"Jack, I can't wait anymore, please teach me how to fight now, please please please?" Jack just looked at me and sighed.  
"Just give it a few more days Whisper, I don't think you need to know how to fight. I think you just need to keep ignoring them." I was so frustrated, I walked away from Jack and right out of the restaurant. I was so angry with him. Couldn't he see that they wouldn't leave me alone? Why wouldn't he help me, why wouldn't he teach me to fight, or at least defend myself? It felt like the end of the world, which I knew at the time, was me being a teenager. I decided to go for a run, I didn't care where I ran, I just wanted to run. I started around Central Park and just took any turn I felt like. Pretty soon I found myself at the Brooklyn Bridge. I had never been across it before. I was only starting to get to know Manhattan, I didn't need to get lost in another borough so I turned around and started running back to the lodging house. Half way there, I ran out of breath so I stopped running and just started walking. Thinking back on it now I realized that I saw them before they saw me, but I was so wrapped up in my head that it didn't click and once they spotted me there was no escaping them. Oscar and Morris made their way over to me and cornered me against a wall.  
"Uh, hi guys." They just smirked before Oscar punched me in the stomach. Morris then proceeded to punch me in the eye. They were just roughing me up a little bit, but it still hurt like hell. When they were finished, they just walked away. I wasn't hurt to bad, it felt more like they were making a statement. I stood up and got dizzy so I knelt back down and ended up throwing up. I stood up again and wobbled to the lodging house. The only thing I was thinking was that Jack better be teaching me some self- defense moves now. 


	3. Quite the Leader

I walked into the lodging house and slowly headed up the stairs and into the bunkroom. I looked around and couldn't find Jack. It seemed that he hadn't made it back yet, so I made my way to my bunk and lied down. I remember trying to stay awake long enough to talk to Jack but he must have gotten back real late because I stayed up longer than most newsies and he hadn't come back yet. I decided to sleep and talk to him in the morning.  
When I woke up, I was sore all over. I climbed out of my bed, washed up a bit and waited downstairs for Jack to come down. When he finally made it down, it only took one look at my eye for him take a deep breath and promise to teach me some self defense moves after we sold papers. The work part of my day seemed to take forever to end, but when it did I was filled with a new energy. I met up with Jack at Tibby's and we found an abandoned alley. That was where the teaching began. That was where I was learning to get my dignity back, and that was where I learned Jack's reason not teaching me earlier. Jack has set up an old bag full of garbage, mostly left over newspapers we found in people's garbages. It was turned into a punching bag for me.  
"Alright, here we go, again. I want you to keep your feet planted on the ground this time. When I say go, throw off of your weight into this punch and knock the socks off of that bag. Go." As Jack said those words, I threw the best punch of my life, which turned out to be crap. I over swung and ended up falling down. I jumped back up and looked at Jack for more directions.  
"Ok, don't let that discourage you, this time focus on hitting the center of the bag." Jack must have been as frustrated as I was feeling but he didn't let it show for a minute. Although I hate to admit it, it took another ten minutes before I threw a decent punch that hit the center of the bag. When I did, it felt like a huge accomplishment. However, my victory was short lived. Before I even knew what happened, I was lying on my back, my butt sore from running into the ground.  
"Ow. Jeez Jack, a little harsh don't you think?" I muttered as I stood up. He shook his head and took a fighting stance.  
"Attack me." It was a simple direction, but it sounded so weird coming from someone who had helped me so much. Nevertheless, I charged at him. It didn't work, and he easily pushed my aside into the wall.  
"Ok, that's enough for the day. Just remember to keep yourself centered and you should be able to throw a decent punch." I nodded and we started to walk out of the alley towards the lodging house.  
"So Jack, I'm just curious. Why wouldn't you teach me to fight before?" It took a few minutes for him to respond.  
"Because I didn't want you to think you would be able to take on the Delancy brothers. What I'm teaching you is just a few simple moves that could help you get out of a sticky situation with one person. I hear stories every day about girls who think they could take on the Delancy's or some other group of guys because some punk taught them a little bit of self defense. Do you know what happens to those girls? They're pulverized. They get ripped apart. The Delancy's may be stupid sometimes, but they are strong tough guys and no matter what I teach you, you can't take 'em on by yourself. I didn't want you to learn a bit of stuff, mouth off to them and then get beat down. So if you want these lessons to continue, you gotta promise me that you won't go after them or any other guy. You keep yourself out of dangerous situations or these lessons stop today, alright?" I looked at him.  
"Ok, I promise." The rest of the walk was silent. Secretly I had to admire Jack. He was quite the leader. He always seemed to have a reason for something, and he always seemed to think things out. He treated everyone fairly. He was quite the guy. My only hope at that point was that I didn't disappoint him. 


End file.
